Here’s Proof That This Nation Will Prevail

Why the United States Is Harder to Break Than You Think

Here’s Proof That This Nation Will Prevail

Why the United States Is Harder to Break Than You Think

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #744: Tuesday, January 20th, 2026.

You’ve been told to believe America is finished.

That the rot is too deep.
That the forces arrayed against truth are too powerful.
That the institutions are hollowed out.
That the public is too distracted, too divided…too exhausted to resist what’s coming.

That story is repeated so often it starts to feel like wisdom.

It isn’t.

It’s intimidation.

And history is littered with people who mistook intimidation….for inevitability.

Let me give you something better than reassurance.
Let me give you proof.

First: Collapsing nations don’t need to scare their own people into obedience

Every authoritarian movement has the same tell: panic disguised as strength.

When a system is confident, it governs quietly.
When it’s fragile, it threatens loudly.

Look around.

The shouting.
The constant emergency declarations.
The obsession with loyalty tests.
The demand for absolute obedience wrapped in grievance and rage.

That isn’t momentum.
That’s fear of losing control.

Strong systems don’t need to constantly remind you they’re strong.
Weak ones do.

Second: Real power consolidates silently. Ours is being challenged loudly.

If America were truly finished, you wouldn’t see this much effort to dominate the narrative.

You wouldn’t see:

• Nonstop disinformation campaigns

• Constant attempts to discredit journalism

• Escalating attacks on courts…elections…and civic norms

• The need to manufacture internal enemies

You don’t waste this much energy suppressing something…that’s already dead.

You do it…when you’re afraid it’s still alive.

Third: This country has survived worse-with fewer tools

Let’s be honest about history.

This nation survived:

• A civil war that killed more Americans than every other war combined

• Economic collapse that erased entire generations’ savings

• Global fascism at the height of its power

• Assassinations…bombings…domestic terror…and systemic corruption

And it did so without:

• Instant communication

• Independent media ecosystems

• A broadly educated public

• Constitutional guardrails refined by failure

We are not weaker than those generations.

We are louder.
More fragmented.
More exposed.

That’s not the same thing.

Fourth: The thing authoritarians can’t defeat is boring persistence

Here’s the part they never understand:

They believe history turns on dramatic moments.
It doesn’t.

It turns on:

• People showing up again tomorrow

• Institutions doing their job imperfectly but consistently

• Journalists documenting instead of reacting

• Citizens refusing to be baited into chaos

Authoritarians burn hot and fast.

Democracies endure by outlasting them.

That’s not inspirational rhetoric.
That’s the historical record.

Fifth: Look at who’s actually panicking

Ask yourself an uncomfortable question:

Who sounds calmer right now…
the people screaming about enemies everywhere…
or the people methodically documenting facts…building cases…and staying patient?

Who’s demanding emergency powers?
Who’s floating suspensions of norms?
Who’s testing how far they can push before resistance stiffens?

The side that rushes…is rarely the side that wins.

Sixth: Hope isn’t what sustains nations-structure is

Forget the word “hope.” It’s been abused.

Nations don’t survive on hope.

They survive on:

• Law

• Process

• Accountability

• Redundancy

• People who refuse to abandon their posts

And here’s the part that matters:

Those structures are still standing.

Strained? Yes.
Contested? Absolutely.
But functioning.

And that’s why the pressure is so intense…to break them before they can do their work.

Final Proof: You’re still here-and still thinking

If this nation were truly lost, you wouldn’t be asking hard questions.

You wouldn’t be reading carefully.
You wouldn’t be seeking clarity over comfort.
You wouldn’t be refusing to surrender your judgment to outrage merchants.

Collapse doesn’t look like this.

Collapse looks like apathy.

What we’re living through is a stress test…not a funeral.

And stress tests don’t exist to destroy systems.
They exist to reveal where reinforcement is needed.

One Last Thing (Read This Twice)

The people betting against this country are counting on exhaustion.

They want you to believe the fight is already over….so you stop showing up…mentally… civically…morally.

Don’t give them that satisfaction.

Not with rage.
Not with panic.
But with resolve.

History doesn’t remember who screamed the loudest.

It remembers who held the line.

And that’s why…despite everything…you should understand this:

This nation will prevail.
Not because it’s perfect.
But because enough people refuse to quit.

And that…has always been enough.

#HoldFast

Back soon,

-Jack
Jack Hopkins

P.S. Send this to a friend you think could really use a reason to believe right now.